1. Technical Field:
The present invention relates in general to messaging communications and, in particular, to gathering user responses to sample message communications. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to sampling user responses to communication content and utilizing those sampled responses to determine reaction responses for other communications with that user.
2. Description of the Related Art:
As the Internet and telephony expand, the ease of communications between individuals in different locations continues to expand as well. However, with contemporaneous or delayed electronic communications, much of the detectable content available during face-to-face conversation is reduced or eliminated.
During face-to-face conversation, typically more than just word based speech is communicated. “Verbal” and “non-verbal” information combined provide a context for the content of a communication. Verbal information may include, for example, sounds, voice tone, and volume. Non-verbal information may be exchanged, for example, via eye-contact, gestures, facial movements, and body language. For example, the speaker is able to watch the responses of the listener and gauge a responsive emotion to words spoken. In addition, the speaker may be able to watch the listener to receive non-verbal clues as to whether the listener understood the speaker's words. Further, the listener can watch the speaker's movements and tone to better understand the type of emotion that the speaker is trying to convey.
Without the elements of face-to-face communication, verbal and non-verbal information that provide the context for communication content is often lost or eliminated. Without these integral parts of communication, there is a greater chance of misunderstanding in communication. For example, there may be greater misunderstandings due to cultural differences which are not readily apparent when there is not face-to-face communication. Further, there may be misunderstandings as to the emotion with which a communication is made or received that are not quickly corrected without face-to-face, contemporaneous communication.
For example, an electronic mail (e-mail) message provides a valuable type of electronic communication, but not contemporaneous face-to-face communication. A person sending an e-mail message does not have the advantage of watching the recipient's body language in response to reading the electronic mail message to determine whether the recipient understood the communication. In addition, the recipient of an e-mail message may not be fully aware of the age, sex, ethnic background, rank, regional location, or other background information which might influence the way the sender chooses to communicate content. Further, the recipient does not have the benefit of viewing the sender to determine the emotional context in which the sender is writing the e-mail message. The sender might be only disappointed, but use words which the recipient associates with anger, leading to a misinterpretation of what the sender wrote.
Before an advertising campaign is released to the general public, the advertisement is typically shown to focus groups. Each person in the focus group answers questions about what the advertisement communicated, how the advertisement made each person feel, how each person would respond to the advertisement, and other questions that allow the advertiser to determine whether the advertisement is communicating an intended message and whether the group's responses to the advertisement were as intended. Based on focus group results, an advertiser may adjust the content of an advertisement to achieve a more desired result.
Obtaining focus group responses to an advertisement, film, or product, for example, is often expensive and time consuming. However, there are many types of communications that occur each day where having focus group type information on a smaller scale would be valuable to compensate for the lack of face-to-face communication by adjusting a communication to communicate a particular message to the recipient and anticipate a desired response from that recipient. For example, every day, e-mail messages are written and transmitted where it would be advantageous for the sender to receive information that anticipates how an individual recipient may understand the e-mail message and respond to the e-mail message.
Therefore, in view of the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide a method, system, and program for gathering user responses to sample content and analyzing other communications for that user according to the gathered responses to designate anticipated responses to the other communications. In addition, it would be advantageous to analyze books, movies, and other media according to the gathered responses to anticipate types of media that would be interesting to the user.